Under the Rose
by ShadowsEdge96
Summary: A boy with a shrouded past finds himself in a school not like not any other. Bonding with a group of unlikely friends, Tsukune Aono grows and uncovers a dark, pained past...that belongs to him. Watch as he discovers more and more about himself...what he is. And learns a truth, once thought to be only legend. Rated M for violence and sexual themes Tsukune pairings posted in first Ch
1. Leaving home

Hello there! Shadow's Edge here aaand I had a new idea for a R+V fic that doesn't involve a OC (since some assholes with no pen name despise it so much and oddly enough both called my OC a "mary sue' wannabe...I have no idea who this sue person is). Anyway, this is completely AU compared to the manga. yes it will follow similar arks and what not, but I will warn you all in advance that if you are hoping for a TsukuneXMoka pairing, this is NOT the fic for you. I have a plan for her.

Anyways, read the chapter if you like (please do for I wrote this for you as much as I did for myself) and tell me what you think. pairings will be posted at the end of the chapter. Sorry for the double post too, accidently selected the wrong doc when I uploaded it the first time x)

Enjoy

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><p>"Wake up Tsukune! Hurry up, common! You don't want to be late for your first day of high school do you?"<p>

A teenage boy with brown hair who was currently covered by his blanket up to his eyes groaned lightly, and proceeded to ignore the most important person in his life.

"Hey! No ignoring me, you have to get up now." The beautiful woman with long Black hair and dark brown eyes opened up the blinds to the window that she had been standing next to with a smirk. The blinds opened almost instantly, letting rays of the morning sun light up the usually cave-like room.

No sounds were heard. But her smirk was kept knowingly place.

At first glance, it seemed as if the teen was still deathly asleep and unmoving. But the smirking woman had known and raised him enough years to tell that he was hating the sun right about now. And, much to her amusement at the cost of Tsukune's ire, she got the result she was looking for.

His hair was somewhat long, and it easily shadowed his eyes. But if you look closely one would be able to see eye lids behind the chocolate-brown bangs crack open until about halfway, revealing completely black pupils.

But that was only an illusion, as they were still dilated from sleep. The pupils shrunk as they realized they were no longer in the comfort of their usually dark room and shielded by their skin housing, now showing hazel eyes.

All in all, the teen looked thoroughly annoyed awake. With the way his bangs lazily shadowed his half-lidded eyes. His figure was completely concealed by the grey blanket that was still up to halfway up his nose. So it was all too obvious when he closed his eyes once more to squeeze in even a minute more of sleep.

The woman noticed this and giggled sweetly before walking over to the scarcely used light switch and flipping it on. Another groan was heard as the still almost brand new light bulb filled the room with bright yellow light since it was almost never used.

A morning growl of a voice sounded out as shifting could be heard, "Alright, alright. I'm up, I'm up I promise…just please turn off the light."

More giggling could be heard as the woman knew that if he didn't get up when she opened the blinds, the light would definitely work. She snickered, "Fufufu, c'mon sleepy-head, get washed up while I get breakfast ready."

She walked out of the room to let her son bring himself back to life and crawl out of his bed, conveniently 'forgetting' the light switch on the way out.

Tsukune cracked his eyes open again, watching as the woman walked right passed the infernal light switch and casting a wink in his direction. He sighed as he shifted around so that he was on his stomach and rested his head back on his pillow.

Taking a deep breath, he resigned himself to his fate of being awake, "Troublesome Mother's and their _forgetting_ to turn off the ridiculously bright light."

He groaned again as he pushed himself up and sat down cross-legged on his bed with his front facing the head board. Revealing that he only slept in workout-shorts as his shirtless figure came into light. The most interesting _things_ about his person however, where the three rosarios that he wore. One on an elegant silver necklace that had strange writing on each of the links. And two smaller crosses that hung on bracelets on each wrist with similar designs on the chain links.

The bracelets wrapped around his wrist in an X shape, so they didn't move much except for the little bit of chain from where the crosses hung from. The necklace fits perfectly around his neck in a way that allowed plenty of room, but not enough to take off by simply sliding it off of his head.

The crosses on the bracelets were about an inch and a half in length, a rose-vine like design running in a sort of spiral along the front and rapping around at the base, on the back of both there was a pentagram accompanied by a few arcane-like symbols. A small black jewel was set in the middle of both as well.

The one he wore around his neck was around three inches in length, give or take, and had an unknown language writings etched onto the front, each symbol different from the one next to it. On the back, as like the crosses on his wrists, there was a pentagram inscribed onto it. However, there were hieroglyphic symbols littering the entire thing and artfully included in the spaces within it, as well as the same smaller symbols on the limbs of the cross.

On the front, in the center of the cross, stood a deep red, nearly black jewel. All in all, each piece of craftsmanship looked as if they belonged in a museum showcased as a priceless antique. How the teen had gotten them he did not know, all he knew was that he had had them for as long as he could remember, and he never took them off. It didn't feel right even thinking about it, he never really thought about taking them off simply because there was no reason too, so he always had them on.

He had a lean figure for a fourteen-year old, at least that's how old he was supposed to be, he looked more so around the age of seventeen. His show of having a four-pack poking through on his stomach while his arms chest and the rest of his body also showed signs of some athleticism. Nothing that was every girl's dream, but certainly enough to catch the interest of his age group with effort. He scratched the top of his horrible case of bed head and yawned as he stretched out his free arm. The muscles in them rippling a bit.

He sat there and blinked his eyes a couple times before leaning back and turning so that he fell back on his face as he slowly slithered his way off of his torturously comfortable bed so that he could turn off the light.

He crawled onto the floor from the foot of his bed, but fell abruptly when his legs slid off.

"Ow."

He picked himself up and stiffly made his way over to flip the switch off. With a sigh of relief, he walked over to the bathroom of his home and washed up. Ghostly making his way down the stairs to the living room so that he could head to the kitchen.

He went on to hug the woman as she had just finished setting the table. He was around three inches taller than her, she was a very petite woman since he stood at five feet and five inches, a little tall for his age. He engulfed her in a loving embrace that only a son could show his mother.

"Morning Mom."

He gave her a kiss on her on the top of her on her hairline above her right eye and went over to take his seat in the middle while she sat in front of him.

Both ate in relative silence. Tsukune being silent because he was still groggy from waking up, he was NOT a morning person…and it didn't help that he couldn't fall asleep until the wee hours of the night. At least once a month he would be up for a full day because he was so restless at night, and was usually doing something during the day so he didn't really nap.

Even as a child he had always been that way, well, as far as Kasumi had knowledge of Tsukune had had sleeping issues even when he was at the orphanage she had adopted him from. So it wasn't her, though she had hoped that the six year-old would have grown out of that problem by now. It seemed it was just one of those things.

She looked at him with a reminiscing gaze in her eyes as she watched him quietly eat his eggs. They were scrambled, just the way he liked it. It seemed like the past nine years of her life had been speeding up faster and faster with each on that passed. She was thirty-six now, almost thirty-seven. Just three years short of forty!

She had just turned twenty-five and had been happily married to her husband for two years after meeting him at her college graduation party when they had both gotten into the car accident that had changed her life. They had been T-boned at an intersection by a driver who had swerved to avoid hitting a small child who had ran out into the street, he had been running away from his caretaker.

Fortunately, the driver missed the child by a few feet…but hit her and her husband's car before he had a chance to slow down.

She couldn't remember much of what happened. The last thing she could recall before waking up in the hospital was her last conversation she was having with her dear Takeshi…They had been talking about having kids since they had just purchased a home after saving up while living in an apartment.

One second they were discussing names, and the next thing she knew, the world was spinning and all she could see was a blur before everything went black.

She had woken up a few hours later with minor injuries, the worst one being a small cut on her head just above her hairline over her right eye-brow that was barely noticeable. After worrying for her husband throughout the physical she had received upon waking up, she had been devastated to hear that Takeshi didn't make it. The force of the crash had caused them to spin out and hit a traffic-light pole.

It had stopped the car dead in its tracks, but the result was her husband's head stopping on his car door that had been warped from the initial hit…the only comfort that she had was knowing that he had died instantly, and felt no pain.

It had taken her months to get over the loss. At first, the brunette thought she never would. But, a year and a half had passed and it was an especially sunny day in the middle of spring…she had started to think back on what Takeshi had spoken to her about. The idea of having children had actually been brought up by him. She had thought he wanted to wait a year or two more at that point in time.

It was her bi-weekly grocery shopping day when she passed an orphanage on her way to the market. She didn't know why, but something compelled her to go in. She had only been in there for thirty minutes before her eyes fell upon a boy who was playing by himself in the corner of a room with at least a dozen kids scurrying around as all children do.

She found herself drawn to the boy, and had walked to talk to him. She had read the files on multiple children, and the boy drawing what looked to be a giant cross had been one of those files. The lady that had gone through the files with her had come across his and had initially tried to skip it, saying that '_They were still working with him'_.

Apparently he didn't talk much and had arrived to them with little to know data on him. They knew his age and that was it. There wasn't even a birthdate on his file when he had been transferred to their facility, they had asked him his age and he told them. He said he was five…that was all he knew as far as records went. They didn't know his name until he had been asked. The caretaker that asked him had told her that he looked her in the eye and had said his name was Tsukune.

He went off to his corner to draw more afterward. The caretaker then picked up the book he had set down before leaving and took a gander to see what kind of books he liked.

She found that 'Tsukune' was the name of one of the characters in the book…and it was on the first line.

Nothing could be said or done, so they simply called him Tsukune assuming that he didn't know his name either. It would not be the first time an orphan named his or herself.

After what seemed to be a normal conversation with only a little hesitation on Tsukune's part about the ocean and things that swam in it, Kasumi turned to the caretaker that was assigned to him, only to find amazement all but painted on her face.

It had taken her a month to get him to say more than one sentence to her, and Kasumi had only taken about two minutes when she complimented him on the crosses that he wore and introduced herself. He wore an intricate necklace with a cross that looked a little large for his chest at the time, and a bracelet on both hands that had small crosses on them too, though they too looked big on him. They had started off talking when she complimented his drawing and it had wound up finishing somewhere around his fascination with how many fish lived in the ocean.

Something sparked within her after talking with him, and she went back the next day having called in sick, spent all day there talking with him and even drew a church with him after he asked her if she would like to draw with him.

It came out pretty bad, at least the part that she did which was the building. The best part were the crosses that he drew, which she thought were amazingly done by someone his age, and it now hung on the fridge in their house.

It had taken her the rest of the week to convince the orphanage to allow her to adopt him, mostly because he had virtually no paperwork and they were worried about his rather…odd behavior and seeming obsession with crosses and rosarios.

But, she persisted, and by the end of the week she had signed every paper they sent her way and brought him home with her…it had been one of the happiest moments of her life, its rival only being her wedding day.

"Mother, you ok?"

Kasumi blinked and noticed that Tsukune was looking at her with worry in his eyes, she had been washing the same plate for the past couple of minutes as she swam through her sea of memories of the boy she loved as her own son. "Yes, I'm fine fufu, don't mind me." She gave him a slight wave of the hand that wordlessly spoke 'all is fine' and got to washing their dishes, though she accidently flicked some water on his face, which he wiped off and walked away with a smile when he splashed her back.

She had all but forgotten about her own meal, she hadn't even touched her own plate, having lost her apatite while shifting through her thoughts.

And as she washed the dishes, she couldn't help but get lost in them again.

He had changed so much since then.

He had changed so much, and yet remained the same odd boy that had sat in the corner by himself, drawing. In public school and even middle school he mostly kept to himself. He had gotten a lot better with talking with people, but never really seemed to make a whole lot of friends. He had them, sure, but to him they were more acquaintances than anything else. While everyone else his age were starting to have interest in the girl that sits next to him in class, and vise versa, and go out to cause whatever mischief they were up to. He was content with just being home, drawing in his room and what not.

Over the years of raising him as best she could, he had opened up to her and told her what he could of his childhood before she adopted him. From what he was able to tell her, he spent much of his time alone and in a sort of monastery. His favorite place was an old cathedral that they had on the grounds and it was there that he got his fascination of crosses from. He told her that there were rooms filled with hundreds of them and in all sizes and designs.

When she had asked him of his parents he said he didn't have any. At first she thought he said that out of resentment, but he had told her the only people he ever talked to, let alone saw on a regular bases was a Deacon who spent time with him and taught him how to read and write, and his wife who had a fancy for drawing and had gotten him started in the hobby.

She asked them their names, all he could remember was their faces. The Deacon was a man who looked to be in his forties, same as his wife. The wife had elegant blonde hair, her husband plain black, both were light skinned.

She asked him which country this was in since it sounded European if the religious title was anything to go by. All Tsukune could remember was the monastery, the older couple and everything they taught him. Everything else was a blur or he simply couldn't remember. He remembers getting off the plane and being taken to the orphanage by the Deacon and his wife. He had been taught both English and Japanese, so he didn't have much trouble communicating.

That fact still amazed her, he could speak both languages fluently since he had kept up with English during his years of school. In fact, if it weren't for his somewhat elastic ability to fit in, she would never suspect he was foreign aside from his looks. He looked to be European, but had some features that she couldn't quite place with his slightly angular face and sharp features.

Kasumi released a sigh as she started to put away the dishes. She felt she knew her son, really knew him for the young man that he was now…but he was also such a mystery to her. Even the crosses that he wore, the very things that had started their relationship, were a mystery to her. But…at least he was in the same boat with her on that one. He had no recollection of how he got them, from what he's told her, he's just always had them and couldn't remember a time he didn't wear them.

And from what she had learned at the orphanage, he never took them off during his time there either. She had asked him to remove them once as a joke to see how they would look. A mother son thing that they were going to do for Halloween. But, much to both of their shock, they wouldn't unfasten. The tiny mechanisms that locked the joining links in place wouldn't budge. Neither of them wanted to damage the necklace or the bracelets so they simply left them be since he liked them anyway, it's not like they bothered him much.

Even still, Kasumi couldn't help but feel slightly put off by the strangely alluring crafts of silver and gem. Not once did she ever see dust on them or even a smudge. They stayed as silver as the day they…well…as the day she saw them! But she guessed it didn't matter much, her Tsukune wore them well. They suited him. She dare say they were meant for him, she couldn't really picture them on anyone else.

"Mom?"

"Ah!" Kasumi nearly jumped out of her shoes at the sudden appearance of the boy that was currently her sole train of thought since it would be the last day she'd see him until he graduate's…wait, that's right!

Tsukune furrowed his eye brows and went to help her put away the dishes, "You're spacing out quite a lot this morning, are you sure you're ok?"

Kasumi smiled nervously, her body tense as she was incredibly anxious now that her thoughts returned to the present, "Y-yes Tsukune I'm fine. Your mother just has a lot on her mind today, that's all. It's not every day that your son goes off to their first day of high school. To a boarding school no less…where you'll pretty much live at and only visit during breaks…"

The brown-haired teen closed his eyes, _'So that's it…I see.'_, he hugged her once more, even squeezing her a bit to give her the extra sensation that he was there with her, "I get a week break after each quarter and a two week break in the middle of the year. After the school year is done we'll have two months to draw together Mother, don't worry."

Kasumi chuckled, her voice cracking a bit as she tortured herself with all the memories of her and the strange boy that was her son played out in her mind. She knew she'd have a tough time with this since they were so close, she had cried on his first day of middle school because he was getting older and closer to becoming a man and leaving the nest.

Their relationship was born and kept alive by the closeness between her and her son since day one. Kami worked in mysterious ways, when she had adopted him, it was more so for herself than for his sake. It sounded selfish to even her own ears, but the truth was at the time she needed him more than he needed her.

As it turns out, one of Tsukune's only friends at the orphanage had been the boy that her husband had swerved out of the way to avoid…which inevitably lead to his death. She also found out that the boy had run away shortly after when he found out what he had caused. How he found out nobody knew, and he was transferred to a different location.

Kami works in mysterious ways.

For the first couple months things were shaky. She admits, she had no _real_ idea how to be a mother at first. But, as time progressed, she stuck to her gut instinct and remembered everything _her_ mother taught her and simply spent time and taught him about life. The two grew to love each other as mother and son and had coasted the past few years with many memories to look back on if the picture covered fridge and scattered glass frames sitting on furniture and decorating several walls were anything to go by.

As crazy as it was, she had gotten over Takeshi's death within six months of adopting Tsukune…she was sure he wouldn't want her to mourn forever. She knew she would never remarry, she never really thought about dating again let alone the prospect of marrying again. She liked to think that Takeshi had been walking with her that day, and had led her into that building on a whim just as was in his nature, and was still with her in spirit. He had been friends with her for over a year and asked her out while they were grocery shopping for a club outing.

After dating for six months he had proposed to her in the middle of a mall. When she asked him what his train of thought had been, he had told her that he had wanted to propose to her the moment they met in the student tutoring building in college, and that his suddenness was simply when he couldn't take it anymore and threw his fear out the window.

Kasumi always loved his honesty, it had been a trait that she was glad to see in Tsukune, though his was bred from a different upbringing as far as she could tell. But, she liked to think that Takeshi had been wanting kids since even before marriage, he always had a sense with kids and they loved him. After mopping around for a year and a half he probably couldn't take it anymore and finally influenced her mind to walk into the orphanage, scan the room to see which child she felt a connection with and sign the papers all the while saying, "You're coming with me!" with a smile in place and a thumbs up. That was just who he was.

And it was who she had become over the years as she raised Tsukune. He was their child, biologically or not, he was theirs…Tsukune would just have to wait a while to meet Takeshi. But he was sure that had he been alive, they would have been the best of friends, and she would have to compete for her son's attention while they have their ample amount of Father-Son time.

She felt a hand wipe just beneath her eyes. She blinked and looked up to see her son looking at her concern clearly expressed on his young, handsome face that was losing more baby fat and becoming more defined with each passing week. She had been crying. Finally, she put away the last dish that had been there since the day before, they had been drawing for a while and were too lazy to put away that nights dishes, and enveloped her son in a bone crushing hug as her tears kept streaming down steadily like a sad rain.

"Oh…my boy is going off to high *hic* scho~ol. *Hic* I'm so proud of you Tsukune!"

Said teen simply held his mother and rubbed her back soothingly, he had an idea why she was so shaken up. "It'll be fine Mom…I'll be back before you know it." He leaned back so that she could look him in the eye. Her bottom lip quivering like a child and her eyes red and puffy. Him being the one, oddly enough, to be the mature one and calm his mother down.

He wiped her slowed tears and kissed her forehead, a habit he had developed when they had celebrated his birthday together for the first time. She had broken down in a final grief for Takeshi. She had tried to stay strong and not cry since the day of his funeral, but had not been able to contain her tears when he blew out the candles of his cake, having only herself and her niece Kyoko to sing to him since her sister and her husband were always working.

She had broken down and apologized for not giving him a father. Crying her eyes out and assuring him that she was doing her best to give him a good life and provide for him.

He had calmed her down with the same gesture as he pulled his lips away from the small, almost invisible scar on her hairline from the car accident, and told her that everything was alright…he was just happy to have her as his mother. He was forever grateful. He still was.

Kyoko had soothed her too that day, giving her much of the insight that she now had on her adopted son since he naturally bonded with his now "legal" cousin. Though even she told her that Tsukune was as much a mystery to her as he was to Kasumi, she did accept him as her sort of "little brother" figure. The two were inseparable when she lived close, and only clung to each other more when she moved and could only visit during the summer.

And now he gazed at her still sniffling face. She could be so emotional sometimes that it rubbed off on him simply because there was no more room for it to go. He smiled a bit and wiped at her last tear, "Heheh, you keep this up and I'll have no choice but to bring home a girlfriend for you to host dinner for and thank her for keeping me company." Tsukune couldn't help but chuckle lightly as his mother pouted at the playful jab.

She mocked being angry and turned her head to the side with a slightly quivering smile, "I don't think that would help much for my current situation, Tsukune." Though she secretly would like for him to bring _someone_ home. She already had the picture books ready and thought about what stories to share in the event he did bring a girl home, or even a simple friend. She would be happy with that, he never once brought a friend over or went out. He seemed content with just being there and helping her around the house. She was hoping high school would bring him out of his shell and she would have a girl to embarrass him in front of, she mentally smiled as she imagined his reaction.

Tsukune looked at her with a calculating gaze, "Oh? One isn't enough for you? Very well…I guess I'll just have to bring _two_ girls back with me so you can show pictures to one and tell stories to the other. Or would three be better? You can show her the videos of me in the school play."

Her head snapped back to him in a blink of an eye, her mouth open and her eyes belonging to an owl more so than to herself. She was silent because of how serious he looked in that instance…before he cracked a charming smile and began to laugh heartily. She playfully smacked his shoulder and he only laughed louder as she protested, "That's not very funny Tsukune! No two-timing!"

He only laughed that much more as she proceeded to fake ignore him while she started to go through his bag to make sure he had everything. He went upstairs, still giggling over his Mom's reaction and got the rest of his clothes ready. His backpack was already good to go, but Kasumi always made sure to double check all of his things…twice.

He was ready in less than fifteen minutes and in the car while his mom prepared herself in the living room as she looked at all the pictures she had with her son. Ranging from pictures at the beach, to parks and tall buildings that they rode the elevator in just for fun. To being in the country side to visit her sister and niece. There was even a picture of them at Takeshi's grave when she finally decided it was time to move on. She still visited him of course, but she was no longer a widow wallowing in sadness. She was now a mother who brought her son to visit his father who was taken from the world much too soon.

The drive to the designated pick-up for academy students at a tunnel at the far side of town right on the side of the street was calm. Kasumi was content and dealing with her son growing up and Tsukune was well…Tsukune. He was gazing out his window and watching as the buildings went by and slowly changed to more of a cross between trees and buildings whipping by than just pure concrete structures. He was hoping that this 'Youkai Academy' had a lot of trees and what not. He really liked the feel of nature.

How he got accepted to Youkai Academy was a story in of itself. He was a good student, moderate grades and participated in class when he needed to. But for whatever reason he couldn't focus on his exit exam. He was especially groggy that day and managed to fail his tests. Kasumi didn't blame him, she knew of his sleeping problem and even had doctors look at him a few times. Each had said he was fine and that there was no medical issue causing his odd sleeping patterns.

When registration came about they had found an application for a school in their mailbox. After looking through the pamphlet, which was pretty standard with other schools in terms of education, they decided to go with it.

The brakes of the car were pushed and it came to a slow stop next to an ordinary looking bus stop.

"Well…we're here."

Kasumi looked to see the back of her son's head as he was staring at the bus stop for the Youkai Academy. He looked calm. More curious than nervous. And the more she thought about it, so was she. Kasumi had raised him as best she could and loved him as if she had given birth to him. She was worried sure, what mother wouldn't worry for her child? But…she had a feeling that everything was going to be fine. Just another school, then off to college, then out into the world.

She realized that she was so motherly attached to him, that it was really only _her_ having much difficultly. Tsukune would miss her sure, but he wasn't a kid anymore. Granted he was still a bit naïve, but so where all kids his age, and now he was going to a place where he would learn more of the life skills to make him a young man. She worried for him, worried that the lack of a father figure maybe affected him, but seeing him now. How calm and collective he looked…she was happy that he was growing up. She couldn't wait to see the man that he would become.

She nodded in response to his statement, "Yeah…we are."

He looked back at her, concern in his eyes, "You gonna be alright?" he they could always look for a school that was closer if she needed it. He didn't mind, and both parties knew that she needed him as much as he needed her.

She looked back into his eyes, a small smile gracing her lips, "Yeah…I'll be fine." She cradled his face with her small hands and pulled him in so she could kiss his cheek. She gave him as strong a hug as she could muster, "Be good Tsukune. Meet people, make a lot of friends, and don't be afraid to talk to anyone. Make sure you try and sleep, eat well and-" she sighed in resignation, stopping before she could ramble on more and just settled for holding him a little while longer.

She let him go and helped him with his bags. Which were really only two, consisting of his backpack and a duffle bag for his clothes. He didn't take much with him, he was a simple guy. They put the two bags down and shared one last hug. "I'm just a call away Tsukune…if you need anything or if you need more money for anything just let me know. I love you."

She wasn't rolling in money by any means, but she was middle class and well off. She managed a clothing store and got pretty decent hours, so she didn't miss much of her son's life. Not that she would have either way because she would have quit her job if she started missing out on his life.

The teen smiled a bit and walked her to the car. A simple small blue car that did well on gas and took them to wherever they wanted to go for the day. "I know, thank you…I love you too, Mother."

Kasumi giggled at his seriousness. He always called her 'Mother' when he was being serious or when there was something wrong. The way he said it made it sound sacred to him, and it made her feel good when she heard him call her that.

So with one last hug, the third one in under five minutes, she started the car and drove off as slow as she could without dragging it out too long since she had to go to work now. All the while peering at his face in the rear-view mirror as he watched her drive off to pay the bills.

Tsukune felt his heart pang when he saw his mother reach up to wipe away what was surely another fit of tears in her eyes. But, he had to move on with his education, and he had to grow up. He knew this, and his mother knew this. But it still left him with a sour feeling in his stomach knowing that she was hurting. Maybe not because of him, but because of the situation. All a part of life he supposed.

"Well…I suppose ill sit down now." He thought out loud, and shifted his bags over so that he could sit on the three-person bench.

Almost as soon as his rear touched the metal of the bus-stop bench, he could see an approaching glow of headlights of a vehicle from inside the large tunnel. He looked to the dark cavern-like entrance in confusion, _'There wasn't a car coming a second ago?'_

He shrugged and got his things together, maybe there was a turn up ahead or something.

The bus drove a little passed him and did a U-turn, the door on the side stopping perfectly in front of him and opening after a few seconds of stillness.

He looked up to see the bus driver wearing a grey cap and smoking a cigar. He thought it strange that he smoked on a school bus, but figured it was his thing so he left it alone. He stepped onto the bus, presenting his application and pamphlet for the orientation that was going to take place in a couple hours.

"Hi. Tsukune Aono, is this the bus for…Youkai Academy?"

His calm and gentle voice echoed a little in the large bus. Not yet masculine, but not the cracky voice of a middle schooler either. He drawled out the question, still unsure of the name of the school since it seemed really strange to name a boarding school something like that.

The bus driver had a knowing and mysterious smile that all but screamed, _'I know everything there is to know about everything but you wouldn't believe me if I told you'_. It was the kind of smirk that sent chills up Tsukune's spine with uncertainty. The smoking man took a puff of the sizable cigar and, if it were possible, his smirk became even creepier and more knowing as he nodded.

He didn't so much as look in Tsukune's direction as he raised an arm and pointed the front most empty seat behind where the door opens up, "Yeah, this is the bus. Take a seat _Mr. Aono_…We're right on time." His voice was deep and sort of growling, probably a result of the smoking. At least that's what Tsukune figured. He awkwardly nodded and sat down. Tsukune was a little put off by the way the man spoke his name, but shrugged it off figuring it was his sense of humor.

The teen then made his way for the seat the man had pointed to, it was the closest seat to the front and he really had no reason to choose a different one. He leaned against the bars of the entranceway as the bus driver pressed on the gas, and headed toward the tunnel.

Had it been any other person sitting in the bus, and had it been any other bus in general that wasn't heading in the direction that it was heading, and without the creepy mysterious driver. Nothing would have happened. But, it was not any other person driving. It was not any other bus, and it wasn't heading in any other direction than towards Youkai Academy. And as the large vehicle gets closer to the tunnel, Tsukune can't help but notice the bus driver was chuckling very darkly.

Then…silence.

It seemed as if time slowed down, and a heavy feeling of drowsiness washed over Tsukune as he could almost make out whispers in the back of his mind. At first they were soft, and could almost pass as white noise. By the time they got to the entrance, the whispers were nearly deafening and he looked up and gazed into the rear view mirror of the bus, only to see deep red orbs in the shadow of the bus driver's cap where his eyes would be…his vision had turned as black as the tunnel, and he was limp in his seat.

All around the outside of the bus, a full spectrum of dark and light colors mixed around like a storm of liquid light. The bus driver took another puff of his cigar, his knowing smile giving nothing away except that he knew what was happening to the unconscious boy.

"So…He's finally come back. Kuku, rest up old sport…your journey is just beginning."

* * *

><p>'<em>You're here.'<em>

'_YOU'RE HERE.'_

'_**You're here.'**_

A raspy, and ghost like whisper echoed in the cold dark space that surrounded him. Each echo made the whisper louder in volume, which was backwards because it was to Tsukune's understanding that echoes get lower in volume.

'_Here again.'_

'_HERE AGAIN.'_

'_**Here again.'**_

He looked around to see that he was in what looked to be a crypt of some sort. A large stone carved sarcophagus was beneath his naked body. A depiction of what looked to be two medieval army's charging each other was carved into a small square at the top left corner of the twelve by thirteen stone structure. All around the trim, squares that were five inches in length and width showed the epic battle of the two forces. Losses were many on both sides.

But somewhere in the middle, a figure appeared. It was cloaked in what looked to be as a sort of smoke like aura. The way it integrated with the shadows of the men that were still standing and those who had fallen, made it look that the figure was cloaked in…shadows. A fiery-like aura of shadows.

More forces arrived on both sides, and it seemed like the figure was trying to block them from fighting one another. Another depiction of a young woman with long wavy hair lying in a large bed came into play as the shadow was holding off both armies, not allowing anymore blood-shed.

Over the next few designed tiles, the woman in the bed began to look frightened, and a hand with a large stake came into view before plunging it into the woman's chest. The hand turned itself around slowly so that the palm was facing up, showing the blood splattered all over it as the blood from the woman's chest spilled over and the design kept running until it hit the ground.

The scenes returned to the shadow. Immediately, the shadow flared and disappeared altogether, leaving a man with shaggy hair and long bangs covering his face in the middle of the field. The shadow-shroud began to swirl around the broken man, and engulfed him in a roaring flame.

Fiery tentacles of the shadow flashed out, leveling hundreds of men on both sides. The scenes were pure carnage.

'_Sleep.'_

'_SLEEP.'_

'_**Sleep.'**_

'_**YOU'RE ASLEEP!'**_

The last depiction covered a good eight by seven rectangle of the lid of the stone coffin. The life size and eerily detailed carving showed the remnants of a bloodied and scorched battle field. Swords, spears, axes, and shields littering the ground around him and stretching back far back to the horizon in the back ground. The sea of weapons sticking up out of the ground and at odd angles like wild grass while catapults and war carriages were scattered around in embers or in flames.

In the center of it all, and the main focus of the depiction, was a man in bloodied and broken armor, on his knees. His hair long enough to have his bangs shadow his face down to halfway down his nose. His eyes were strained, and stricken with sadness. His eyes appeared to be slitted, though it was hard to tell with all the erosion and what looked to be scrape marks all over the carving's face. What Tsukune _could_ definitely make out without issue…were the impressive wings that sprouted from the man's back and flared upward, as if they were about to come swinging down and take flight.

'_You're asleep.'_

'_YOU'RE ASLEEP.'_

'_**YOU'RE STILL ASLEEP!'**_

The wings were bat-like, but had a demonic look to them. At the ends of the long fingerlike appendages that support the flaps of the wings, were curved talon-like spikes. Almost like gargoyle wings. The figure certainly was no gargoyle however, for he had the body of a man and not a beast. But he did hold a very demonic presence, especially with the way his limp arms were encased in the flame-like shadows that decimated the armies around him.

They were motionless and limp in the middle of his knees. He seemed to be crying, and a tear was halfway to the grown, forever falling in the stone carving.

Suddenly, the depictions and even the rose thorn trim designs came alive. The sounds of battle, screams and clangs of steel erupted from all around, stimulating Tsukune's senses. He had been a slave to his mind and felt like he was watching everything from a movie screen. His eyes were drawn to the mural of the broken warrior. His hair swaying this way and fro from the wind.

Ashes and embers dancing around him and the shadows engulfing his arms flickering slowly, as if in mud. His wings stretched upward, preparing to take flight. And the tear that was still falling, began to descend as if it had to move through wet concrete.

Inches before it struck the ground, a haze set in. The television like experience looking as if the air is contorting and waving about, and it drew Tsukune's dream eyes to look forward. Ten feet from him, there stood a body size flame like shadow that rippled the air surrounding it. It contorted the grey light of his dream world and seemed to suck in all the light around it.

Suddenly, it rushed forward like a giant serpent.

'_Wake up.'_

'_WAKE UP.'_

'_**Wake up.'**_

It hit him in his chest, and shadows engulfed him from the edges of his eyesight, the blackish grey haze slowly consuming the entire dream as if covered his whole body, and dove into his eyes, mouth, ears and even his nose as he let out a silent scream.

'_**YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!'**_

* * *

><p>Tsukune wakes up, gasping for breath as if he had never drawn one in his life.<p>

His head and his heart throbbed while the rest of his body felt like it couldn't decide if it was freezing cold or being burned alive. He clenched his hands at the small rosario that was underneath his black button-up shirt. It was cold to the touch, but felt like it was sending a current of searing electricity through him.

His mind was rampant, as if thrown into a blender and then bolted back down halfway through. He groaned as whatever remnants of the dream left as fast as he had fallen asleep, _'What kind of dream was _that!_'_

His bracelets stung, but where nowhere near as painful as his necklace. But, as agonizing as the ordeal was, it was over in a blink of an eye.

"Time to wake up Mr. Aono. We're here." Tsukune's eyes snapped open, and blinked.

He was in the same spot that he had fallen asleep in.

He fished his necklace out from his shirt, its deep crimson, nearly black gem glinting in the light of the school bus. It still felt cold…but there was no pain. No feeling of being in ice water with hot coals floating about. _'Had it been a dream too?'_ he wondered. He quickly looked at the crosses of his bracelets.

'_Now that's knew.' _to his shock and almost fear inducing awe. There was a speck of crimson light within the black gems of both crosses. Like a star in the night sky. It had never been there before, and they too felt cold.

Dark chuckling could be heard, and he glanced over to the bus driver to see him leaning back in his chair with his head hunched forward a bit as he blew out another puff of his cigar, "Bad dream, eh? I can't say I'm surprised. Youkai Academy has a reputation for being scary."

The bus driver glanced down at the watch on his wrist and tilted his head slightly to the side, "We're right on time. But if you don't leave now, you're going to be late."

The chocolate-haired teen opens his mouth to question the bus driver, but shuts it just as fast in favor of not being late for his orientation.

Feeling rushed, Tsukune quickly threw on his backpack and slung his duffle bag over his shoulder. He made his way to the door, but was stopped when the bus driver put a hand on his shoulder. The teen looked back to see the cap shadowed face and felt uncertainty creep up on him.

"Those are nice looking crosses you have on there…mind if I have a look?"

The teen felt that his bracelets were sticking out a bit from his long sleeved black button-up, assuming that's what caught the bus driver's attention since his necklace was out of sight. They were barely showing past his sleeves at the moment, maybe a quarter of their size exposed. He didn't hide his rosarios, but he _did _find that he attracted a lot less attention to himself when he kept them concealed.

Feeling awkward, Tsukune sought an escape, "I can't take any of them off, the locks on them are jammed. I'll see you-" he was cut off when the bus driver waved his cigar around in a passive manor.

"You don't have to take 'em off…I just want to see your bracelets for a minute. I'm a fan of antiques you see…and I can tell off first glance that your rosarios are old…very old. And rare, might I add."

Tsukune was confused but…intrigued. Nobody had ever bothered to inquire about his rosarios. Nobody other than his mother, but she just asked out of fun, not out of legitimate interest. Not seeing any reason to deny the curious, albeit strange bus driver a glance at the practically extensions of his body, he undoes the buttons on the cuff and forearm of his shirt and held out his right hand in a showing manor.

The bus driver put out his cigar in the small ash tray on the dashboard of the bus and took his wrist into his hands. Feeling each of the links and observing the masterful craftsmanship of his bracelets. Each thick oval link locking into the next and studying the crosses themselves as if they were a specimen in a lab. His fingers travel over the silver bracelet and the cross connected with skilled finesse, clearly having done this many times and holding his claim to being an _antique _enthusiast.

The experience was very well one of the weirdest and most awkward moments of his life as he hadn't so much as made eye contact with the bus driver…now that he mentioned it, he didn't even know his name either. The weird effect of the moment was amplified by the strange sensation in his body as the bus driver inspected his rosarios. As if something was…altered. He couldn't find the words to comprehend what he was feeling, but he did know that…something...was going on.

"Aaah…I see. These are mighty fine artifacts you have on here. Priceless in fact. Where'd you get 'em?" he tilted his head up, giving his knowing smirk some light to shine. He asked in a tone that was playful, serious, and joking all rolled into one.

Tsukune rubbed his hands together and caressed his bracelets, somehow they felt…different. "I er-…don't actually remember. I've had them since I was a child. I don't know where they came from, I just remember…having them."

He didn't know why, but he reveled pretty much everything that he knew of his rosarios to the absolute stranger that was the bus driver. Something about him spoke wisdom. And something else about him spelled…

"I see…a pity. Ooh well, I can't expect to get all the info I want on rare antiques such as yours I suppose. I am pretty much a stranger to you, it's only natural that you'd keep a few things to yourself." His smirk grew as he re-lit his cigar. Taking a few puffs to make sure that it was thoroughly lit and gave good puffs.

Tsukune was about to protest and tell him that he had been completely honest with him, but was cut off when he waved his cigar in a lazy gesture, "It was nice talking to you, Mr. Aono, but if you don't go now you'll miss your chance."

The teen raised a brow at the wordage of the statement, "Miss my chance? What chance?"

The bus driver took one last puff and chuckled. His deep voice becoming a deep baritone, nearly a growl. The bus drivers spike chilling laugh making the hairs on Tsukune's neck stand straight up from some unknown force in the air around him. He turned his head and actually looked up fully, revealing glowing red eyes in the upper part of his face that was shadowed by his hat, "**Be careful **_**Mr. Aono**_**. This school can be a **_**scary **_**place."**

Now _thoroughly_ creeped out, Tsukune went to question what exactly he had meant by that…as well as ask him what was up with his eyes and voice. But right before he had a chance to open his mouth, he found himself outside the bus and in the twilight overcast of his new school.

"**-But I'm sure you'll be **_**fine**_**.**"

No sooner than the end of the last word spoken, the bus door slams shut, and the sizable vehicle takes off into a U-turn and promptly left him there alone with his questions shot down before they even had a chance to fly.

The teen in a black button-up and grey pants looked into the pitch black tunnel and simply gazed into it with a blank stare.

"…That was _weird_."

So, with a shrug, he took off in the direction that the wooden sign showed as the direction to his new school and took off on foot in a brisk walk. Completely ignoring the 'red eyes' and chalking them up to being a pigment of his groggy imagination after a rather weird nightmare.

All the while noticing that most of the trees there were dead, or dying. The gardens were filled with tombstones and shriveled up rose bushes. And that the sea to his right was blood red, and reflected no sun…because there wasn't one.

"Well this isn't normal?"

**Elsewhere…**

A man in a white priest's robe with glowing red orbs for eyes and a strange sinister-like smile, smiled wider as an orb that was on his desk shows a teen with chocolate-brown hair in dark clothes making his way to the orientation that was being held for the first year students at his academy.

He zoomed in on the teens face, recognizing the slightly bang-shadowed face and the three rosaries that bounced around slightly on his person. Seeing the glints of silver in his sleeves and around his collar as he lightly jogs through the woods surrounding his school.

His smile turned wide, **"It's been a very long time since I've seen **_**you**_**."** The robe figure spoke to…well…the crystal ball. He nodded his head in approval to the crystal ball, and chuckled, **"Welcome back…"**

* * *

><p>Alrighty, there she is. first chapter. now I know what you're thinking...what is with those rosarios that Tsukune is wearing and what was up with that dream. Aaand for those hardcore canon people out thee, why isn't he wimpy. Well, to answer your questions, they are a surprise until I reveal their meaning and purpose or you figure it out :D<p>

As for why Tsukune isn't "Canon' and all scared and a total wuss, I don't like that Tsukune, so I made my own. Now I know you're all wondering why im not pairing him up with Moka, and I will tell you why...I have a plan for them :D that is all you will get out of me *evil laugh* I will give you the pairings however. all but one, im saving one for the sake of the story.

TsukuneXMizore TsukuneXKurumu and TsukuneXRuby...those three are happening. I LOVE Mizore and am pissed that she never sees the light of day. Kurumu has her own charm about her and I have my own vision of her. Ruby is a wildcard, she's predictable in fics and shes not, it all depends. Now, if you would like to make suggestions if you want to see Tsukune with someone else, im all ears. But do it soon because itll get incrisingly difficult later on in the story.

So, with my piece said, I will let you all resume your other stories, and thank you for reading mine. Happy reading my friends.


	2. An Unexpected Friend

Alrighty, here we are, another chapter of my Rosario Vampire fic. I'll apologize in advance, I will be updating my Naruto fic before i will this one most of the time simply because i started that one first. Of course, when this story gets off the ground and get readers (hopefully, it feels good knowing people like my writing) then well see which story has priority, but as of now, Rising Tides is #1 in my todo list.

So, i realize that this story is probably very different from what you're probably used to, the two reviews i had were complete opposites of each other. i have one guy (cant remember his pen name, or if he even had one) who pretty much hates it in a nutshell because im not pairing Tsukune with Moka. Now, for those of you who know my writing, you know i do things for a reason, and believe me...i have a plan for Moka.

Im just tired of seeing her with Tsukune and not giving any of the other characters a chance at happiness because of her worthless vampire pride. I wanted something different for this story. And, as you will read shortly, i am doing just that.

enjoy the chapter :)

* * *

><p>It was eerily quiet in the woods that crowded in around the path to the school. The trees looked lifeless, and seemed to…'watch' him as he moved. He didn't know what to make of the strange feeling as one Aono Tsukune made his way to orientation, that according to his watch he only had ten minutes to get to.<p>

His grey pants had a few bits of dirt and dead leaf on them from trekking through the woods that surrounded his Academy of attendance. He wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't so creepy, he actually liked the outdoors. He liked this setting too he supposed, he just had to get used to it. His tastes in scenery and hobbies weren't exactly normal by any standards anyway.

His shaggy brown hair danced around his eyes as he turned his head to look at all the graves that littered the woods, and the several small cemeteries that would come into view here and there.

"Huh…this must be a place with a lot of history in it. Memorials maybe?" Tsukune thought out loud to himself as he took in the sight of several different styles of graves. Ranging anywhere from simple headstones to gargoyles watching over what looked to be small tombs. It was either that, or the headmaster of the school had an odd taste in decoration.

He was still a little spooked at seeing an ocean of red water. He guessed that there was an abundance of algae or something that made the water red. But for it to stretch out so far? He didn't know, he tried not to think about it. Really, he tried not to think about a lot of the strange things he had been seeing since he stepped foot off the bus.

He kept walking through the woods, just minding his own business since there really wasn't anyone around for him to bother with his presence. The sound of his feet stepping on the few twigs and branches that were scattered about the earthy floor seemed to be the only thing making sound. Everything else was as quiet as the dead trees around him.

That was, until he could faintly hear the buzzing sound of gears churning, and the leaves and twigs being smashed by something that was fast approaching.

"What the…" he turned around, curious of what the sound was. He had only enough time to take in the sight of vibrant pink hair and emerald eyes of a girl in a dark green school uniform riding a bike at a fairly good speed before her soft voice reached his ears.

"EXCUSE ME!"

He felt his heart beat strangely as the girl got close to him, it was as if there was a sort of 'pull' to her. He let out a gasped "Whoa!" as he turned his body just in time to be avoided. He took a step back or two out of natural reaction as he watched the girl zip by.

"Sorry!" she yelled in a voice that was getting farther away. She at least looked back and gave her apology with a panicked face. He could've sworn he saw two small fangs in his mouth, but shook that notion off as a trick of the mind. She was really cute, at least from what he was able to see of her she was.

He shook those thoughts out as he dusted the dirt that had been kicked up off of his pants and continued on.

The rosarios on his wrists jingled a bit as he adjusted his black button-up shirt. He let out a slight chuckle, _'seems I'm not the only one who's running a little late.' _And started walking again, picking up the pace so that he was still on time.

Five minutes past, and he was nearing the dorms. They were sizable buildings, and looked as old as the forests that surrounded them. "…Creepy. And I'm gonna be _living_ there for the next three years." Tsukune shook his head and continued onward. It wasn't too far to the auditorium now.

The teen thought it weird…he'd been walking around on orientation day, "I've only seen one person other than me." He spoke outloud to no one in particular as he passed through a quad, maybe a hundred feet away from where the orientation was taking place.

He picked up the pace and quickly entered the auditorium. Once inside he went down a hall and through another set of door. And sure enough, he was late.

"It won't be much different than regular schools, aside from the fact that you will be living here-"

'_Shit.' _He thought to himself, and looked around the large room for an open seat. Going along the edges of the rows, he didn't want to draw any attention to himself while he tried to find a seat that hopefully wasn't going to put him on the spot.

The room was dark, the only lights being shown on the podium speaker so that everyone's attention was on her. He didn't really pay much attention to the light-brown haired woman, mostly because he had to find a seat first.

He passed along the rows of students, taking note that about half of them already had a similar uniform to the pink haired girl that he had to dodge earlier. So he didn't feel too bad about not having a uniform yet.

Tsukune was starting to get worried now, he was almost at the back of the auditorium and wasn't seeing any open space. That was, until the people suddenly stopped, and left four empty rows of seats save for one occupant in the very back in the center. He could make out a girl's figure and long hair, but not much else because the back was the darkest in the room.

He didn't want to be directly behind somebody, so he took to the second row leaving an empty seat between him and the student in front of him. He had missed a good portion of the orientation, but wasn't too worried it. From the experience that he had in middle school, everything that was presented during the orientation was generally all on the pamphlet given. He had his, so he settled with just reading that since he couldn't really hear the speaker at the distance that he was at. He tuned her out to enjoy the peace and quiet.

The brown-haired teen just sat and flipped through the small booklet that was mailed to him for a few seconds before putting it down in his lap and just sat with his eyes closed. He could hear the podium speaker in the background, but had tuned her out to the point where her voice was too muffled to make out any words.

He was in his own little world, he could read the pamphlet later. Right now he just felt like taking a little nap.

"You haven't missed much." A cool and almost stoic voice lulled in his ears just as he was getting into a relaxed state…

He turned to his head to the right, and blinked in surprise.

He nearly dropped the booklet in his hands at the sight of what was possibly, no scratch that, probably, no scratch that too, was _the _most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. Up until now at least. She had her head rested on her arms and looked forward to the stage while she crossed them on the headrest of the chair for support. Her hands couldn't be seen because the royal blue sleeves of what looked to be a sweater were long enough to reach up to her purple painted nails. The sweater was oversized, since it exposed the strap of what Tsukune could discern as a black sports bra, while the white collar of the sweater looked to be clinging onto the girl's shoulders by a thread.

Her skin seemed to almost glow in the dark, her porcelain complexion making the girl look like an angel. She had a few bangs that carelessly caressed and framed her face, while the rest of her hair spilled out in what looked to be an orderly chaos of spikes. Off first glance, it would seem the girl had no care for her hair, but when you took the time to look at it…everything fit together perfectly, even the lollipop she had in her mouth seemed to fit her.

"Uh..." Tsukune managed to start off, but was at a complete loss of words. In that moment, he kinda wished he listened to his mother and tried to hang out with his friends more than once a month. He had no idea what to replay back with to the angel that was next to him. _'Say something Tsukune, c'mon. What's going on?'_ he tried to coach himself back to normal. Pausing only for a second, he raised his left hand and gave an awkward wave, "…Hi."

His body froze again when the girl turned her head to him, locking her deep, pure blue eyes with his. He could see that her pupils were a darker shade of blue at the center of her iris. The ocean blue nature of her eyes were simplistic, but exotic in the most special of ways and entranced him. What she did next make him blink again, having not expected the reaction she had given him.

She smiled.

It was almost too small to notice, but he could see it as clear as day. Her pink lips were contrasted by her pale, milky skin and made it easy for him to notice the small pull at the corners of her mouth. The girl rolled the sucker around to one side and gave a hushed, but warm chuckle.

"Hi."

It was one word, but he could tell that he had made the girl happy with his polite gesture. Her soft voice had a warmth in it that made him chuckle nervously.

Tsukune felt like his face was warm, and brought his left hand to scratch the back of his head. _'Well this is new.'_ He thought to himself, having never been in this kind of situation before. He was usually off by himself in a quiet corner, joining in on a conversation every so often. But he had never had a _girl_ start up a chat out of the blue. The girls in his classes back at middle school would often glance his way, but would ultimately overlook him while he just sat and drew in his corner.

Not that he minded that, but he was starting to _now_. He was in uncharted waters and he had no idea how to sail, "Uh-um…I'm sorry, what were you saying?" he felt his face get even hotter, having blanked out by a simple 'hi'. _'I dodge a girl on a bike, and now I've been muted by another who's said a total of one sentence and a word to me…I should have talked more to people.'_

Tsukune wasn't a stranger to people by any means, but he didn't really spend much time interacting with his peer group in school. He was content with reading and drawing in class and sleeping in his next classroom during lunch. He didn't have much of a social life, but he had a fairly good life at home with his mother. She was the only person he could talk to without feeling…odd. Talking to the beautiful girl in front of him was a new and different experience, but one that he was enjoying more than he realized.

The light purple, almost violet haired beauty's smile widened just a tad as she rolled her sucker to the other side of her mouth, "What the speaker has been talking about this whole time. You didn't miss much."

The brown-eyed boy blinked and looked down to see that he was still holding the pamphlet. Putting it together that the stunning girl next to him had seen him looking for a seat and sat down, looking through the booklet to see what he had missed.

He gave a warm smile and looked up, but scratched the back of his head again and closed his eyes out of nervousness, "Oh, thanks for that." he cleared his throat a little and held out his right hand after setting the small booklet down, "I'm Aono Tsukune. I appreciate the help." He spoke with a tad bit more confidence than before. _'There. I thanked her for her consideration, and gave her my name. This is a good conversation.' _ He thought to himself with a hint of uncertainty. He didn't talk to many people, he just hoped he wasn't messing up somehow.

He knew nobody at school, again. He would like to have at least _one _person that he could call a friend this time around. And he had to admit, despite his shyness, the idea of being friends with the pale beauty next to him was very appealing.

He watched as the girl looked at his hand with a pause before reaching out and grasping it lightly with her own.

Her hand was lighter than air, and cool to the touch while her silky smooth skin caressed his own in a small shake. Tsukune felt his face heat up again at the feel of her touch, "Shirayuki Mizore…nice to meet you." She replied back with her soft, quiet voice.

She smelled sweet, both because of the light perfume she wore and the scent that the lollipop on her breath gave off. It smelled like a sweet mint, if that were possible.

The two newly introduced youths turned their heads to the front. Everyone was getting up and starting to head to the dorms to get settled in, the introduction to the school was over…and Tsukune hadn't heard a legitimate word of it.

He turned back to say something to Mizore, but was surprised to see that she was already gone. He frowned bit, feeling a tad bit sad that she just left without a word, but turned around when he felt an almost ghostly tap on his shoulder.

He looked and saw that it was Mizore. She was average height for a girl her age…however old she was. If he didn't meet her at first year orientation, he would swear she was at least a third year. She stood around five feet four inches, and wore a checkered skirt and light and dark purple striped stockings that went up to her thighs.

All in all…she successfully shut his mind down _again _with just her look alone.

She had her white-shoed feet close together and her hands clasped in her lap as she gave him a small smile, with a happy look on her face, "Bye." She said quietly, and walked away with a bit of a purpose as he stood stock still in place.

He looked at her figure as she walked away, her hair dancing about and the length of it reaching to just below her shoulder blades. He couldn't help but take in the natural sway of her hips as she finally turned to enter the corridor. Sparing a fleeting, shy glance that he wasn't sure if he really saw or not.

"…Bye." He said to himself as he regained control of his body. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath he didn't even know he was holding before cracking his neck to get his wits about him. _'I hope I wasn't weird.' _ He thought to himself as he made his way towards the exit.

Walking out the door, he could almost make out the slightly fruity fragrance of her perfume as he walked through the door and started his trek to the dorms.

'_Who am I kidding?'_ he continued his inward discussion with himself. Watching as a few of the students that were lingering looked at him with a cross between a confused and curious look after walking close by them.

'_I am weird.'_

* * *

><p>Tsukune awoke the next morning with his usual grogginess, but was otherwise feeling livelier than ever. He was at a new school, living on his own (kind of) and would have <em>himself<em> to fall back on if he got into a jam. Academic or not.

He felt equal parts excited and nervous about being at Youkai. The name was a thing of the past, it was the setting he had to get used to. Like how he was walking past graves on his way to his homeroom class. He got by with just thinking they were all historic and being preserved as property of the grounds. That, or decorations. Either one worked.

He hadn't made any friends yet. Aside from the short, but eventful in _his_ opinion, interaction with Mizore, he hadn't talked to anyone else. That was fine with him for now, he needed to get used to being there before making an attempt to socialize. That and make sure that his grades were stable. He wasn't going to chance flunking this time around.

He was dressed in his school uniform that he had picked up after orientation, a student store was along the ways to the dorms so he had stopped by to pick up the basics. He realized that the school dress code allowed a lot of leeway as far as dress code went. He got a dark-grey school jacket with the standard white-collared shirt and black pants.

He wasn't a fan of green…or any other colors for that matter aside from dark ones. He had grown up wearing mostly dark colors, so the habit stuck with him even now. He had already dropped off his stuff in his assigned locker, so there was no need to carry a backpack. As of now, he was simply walking to class with his hands in his pockets. A new experience than having to lug around his things.

He noticed that the road to the girl's dorms joined with the main one, same thing with the boy's. But, he wasn't too surprised to _not _see anyone walking to class. Most of everybody had probably gotten up early, excited for being in a new school. Tsukune however, did not. He wasn't a morning person…at all.

The security guard in the waiting room of the boy's dorm was already taking his nap for the school hour shift by the time he left for class. Not that he really minded, he still had plenty of time before class.

More than halfway to class, he noticed that the air was beginning to chill. Not enough for discomfort, or even enough to make him shiver. It came and went like a leaf blowing in the wind. It was exactly that actually. He just felt a chill in the air, and it seemed to pass him by.

Just another strange occurrence at his strange school he guessed.

After picking up his things from his locker, Tsukune found himself arriving on time for class and was greeted warmly at the door.

"Welcome to Youkai Academy first year! Please, have a seat anywhere you like Nya?" a woman who was obviously the homeroom teacher greeted him with a cheery good morning. That would have been fine, had it not been for the two cat-ears at the top of her head that looked a little too lifelike to be cosplay. She had brown, almost orangeish hair and canines that looked to be just a tad bit sharp to be normal.

"Uh…yes, thank you." He skated by another potentially awkward situation, and simply walked on by.

He was now at the front of the classroom, looking for a vacant seat in a corner somewhere as he walked along the front of the rows. He took in the faces and attire of the students, and didn't feel all that out of place. Many of the students were wearing their own modified school uniform, and he dare say that they looked to be just regular students as opposed to the uniformed code of a boarding school.

One character in particular stood out to him.

It was an older looking teen that just spelled trouble. He had multiple piercings on his face and ears, and had an attitude about him that made him feel uncomfortable. The way he kept leering towards the females in the classroom didn't help with his impression of him either.

Tsukune turned his head to the back right corner of the room, and wouldn't you know it, he spotted a familiar violet-haired beauty looking out the window next to her. The sucker she seemed to always have on her person was slowly making its way to the right as she lazily rolled it in her mouth.

He could already feel himself get a little hot around the collar, but pressed on anyway. He felt the air get just a tad bit cooler as he got closer. There was a few empty seats around that surrounded her as well. _'The vent to the air conditioner must be around here.'_ He thought to himself, finding the slightly cooler part of the room rather comfortable.

He slowed down a desk or two before reaching Mizore, mostly because she had turned and fixed her ice blue orbs on him effectively pinning him in place. Her lips went up into a small smile that made butterflies fly through his stomach as she gave a slight wave of her hand that was mostly covered by the sleeve of her sweater.

"Hello Tsukune-san."

The brown-haired teen returned the wave nervously, happier than he realized that the mysterious girl from the day before was in his class, "Hello Mizore-san, good morning." He could already feel his vocabulary spilling out of his brain instead of his mouth. Thinking quickly, he looked around to see that there was a few empty seats around them both. He aimed for the window seat in front of her, "Is anyone sitting here? I like being able to see outside the classroom."

In truth he just wanted to sit next to a familiar face. Granted, he didn't really _know _her know her, but it was comforting that he at least knew someone's name in the classroom. That, and he didn't like feeling cooped up. An odd thing for someone who spent much of their time in their room drawing, but for Tsukune, he wasn't just in his room when he was drawing. He was wherever the image he was scratching onto the small canvas of his notebook was. It was like he was drawing his own world.

Being inside a building, even if it was a large one he felt…trapped. As if that was the only space he would ever be free to know. He would be free to move around…

But never free to _leave_.

Being able to look out the window and see the clouds made school hours bearable for him. The only memories he had from before the orphanage, he was always in a room. He didn't see the outside of the monastery except through the windows of the large mission, and the drawings that the Duke's wife would partake with him. He had drawn rain before he ever felt it, and imagined wind before ever feeling it ruffle his clothes. Yes, he liked being outside more than anything. But, he could stay inside as long as he had a window to look out of, and a paper and pencil to draw.

Mizore nodded, and gestured to the chair he was signaling that he wanted to sit in, "These seats are empty…not many like the cold." She studied him as he sat down. Watched him set his small bag down next to the foot of his desk after digging out a grey notebook and pencil from it.

Her blue eyes were gems as she took in his form. His slightly lengthy hair and his deep brown eyes as he looked out the window and smiled a bit. She took notice to every detail of his person, even down to the slight wrinkle of his shirt. Mizore noticed a silver gleam of what looked to be a necklace of some type, but didn't pay much attention to it. Many Youkai wore jewelry, whether it was to restrict their power or just wear it. She wore a keepsake around her own neck, a tiny locket that held a picture of her mother holding her as a baby a few days after she was born.

She wore it as a token of good luck that she might find husband that would give her the only other joy in life that was more precious than love itself. A child. While she would like to mother _children _in the future, she would be fulfilled with being blessed with just one. Being a Yuki-Onna, a snow woman, she would be more than happy being able to just bear one child in her lifetime. Her people were declining in numbers with every generation that passed because of human advances in technology and society as a whole.

The lifestyle of her people was still adapting to the changes of the human world, and have had trouble finding mates because of it. She was one of the few brave snow women to venture out of her homeland to find a husband. The others of her generation were either too young to go searching for mates, or too fearful of the human world to leave the safety of their homeland.

She had no problem with leaving because she didn't really have much for her in the snow village aside from her mother anyway. Everyone back home was scared of her…

"Do you like watching the clouds?" she asked, honestly curious about Tsukune's preference in seating. She had a knack for noticing even the smallest changes in people's posture from both being, and living amongst snow women who were naturally stoic. She could see the way his eyes lit up every time he looked outside. An almost appreciative gleam to them.

She was feared in her home village because of her lack of control over her power ice. She was stronger than any her age, but had trouble controlling her power like the rest. She was feared because she had hurt people before…and she had taken an interest in the boy in front of her, because he wasn't afraid to talk to her. _'Not like him…' _she thought to herself, the temperature in the air around her dropping just a little bit more than usual as she could feel sadness well up in her heart.

"I like the outside in general." Tsukune answered back honestly. Though he did peer up to see the gloomy grey clouds shifting overhead in slow motion. They would seem depressing to most people, but to him they held their own character. Careless, carefree. Hell…just _free_.

Mizore found her sudden darkening mood bright up as Tsukune replied. She wasn't quite satisfied with such a generic answer, and the way he referred to the outdoors made it seemed like he was raised in captivity. So she pressed further, "I see. Did you come from a village?" she was starting to get familiar with Tsukune, at least, enough to be his friend she hoped.

The odd teen couldn't decide to smile happily, or smile sadly. So he took to giving a crooked awkward smile at the innocent question the angelic girl next to him had asked him, "No. I uh…I actually don't know _where _I'm from. I was raised in a monastery as a child and…sent to an orphanage where I was adopted a couple months later at I think I was about six. I was five when I had arrived there, and I'm pretty sure I passed my birthday at some point." He didn't mind talking about his childhood, Kasumi had filled the other half of it with very happy memories. The first half however…he didn't really know how he felt about his time at the monastery.

It was all so hazy.

Mizore blinked in surprise. She knew that a monastery was a western form of a temple, though much larger in comparison, because of the records that the village had of all the men that had lived there after having children with the snow people. Woman were a very rare occurrence because very few snow men were birthed. The majority of humans and other youkai that had lived there were from outside the village. That the boy in front of him had no _real _parents and was an orphan was a great shock to her.

In her people's culture, children were the light of their lives. The fire in the cold winter that was their home and way of life. To a Yuki-Onna, their children were sacred. They would sooner give their lives before allowing anything to happen to their child. Some snow woman had gone into the eternal winter from the pain of miscarriage, let alone abandoning their own child…

Mizore couldn't bear the thought of growing up without her mother, let alone allowing a child of her own growing without ever knowing the love she would have for it. She felt a pang of sadness for the boy in front of him, he didn't so much as know he was _from _let alone his parents love…

"Oh…I'm. I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." She was stopped by the teen's soothing voice. His sound made her heart warm, and the sadness went away like a light snow in a warm wind.

"It's fine Mizore-san, you didn't know." She looked up to see his hazel orbs showing nothing but warmth. Her fears of offending him in any way were driven from her.

She was about to continue their rather pleasant conversation, but was cut short by the homeroom teacher, "Ok first years, welcome to your first semester at Youkai Academy!" she cheered brightly, her cat ears perking up along with her sly smile.

Tsukune still didn't know what was up with the ears, but wasn't going to spend his energy pondering why the teacher enjoyed cosplaying. If that was her thing, then let it be was his thinking.

He opened his notebook to gets the first sketches of the year underway, but had to pause because of an abrupt opening of the door. In fact, everyone in the room turned their attention to the door as it all but slammed open.

"S-sorry I'm late! I-I couldn't find the class!"

'_Isn't that?' _Tsukune began, but cut himself off with a nod. It was the girl who nearly hit him while riding her bike. The color of her hair was impossible to forget, and the vibrant emerald green of her eyes were hard to miss along with it. She looked to be a little taller than Mizore, perhaps Five feet and five inches, give or take. But she was still shorter than him, being a little tall for his age at five feet eight inches.

She wore the standard green Youkai uniform and checkered skirt. There looked to be a sort of collar around her neck that had a chain link leading down into her blouse. What was connected to it was unknown to everyone including Tsukune who had all looked to her direction as she burst through the door.

The teacher simply waved her off, "No worries dear, the school can be quite confusing to first years. Just try and be on time from now on."

The pink haired beauty gave a relieved sigh and smile that made nearly all the boys in the room blush. While others, the pierced troublemaker especially, gave not so innocent leers to the innocent looking girl.

Tsukune thought she looked interesting…but wasn't exactly _interested _in her. He didn't know why, but while he thought she looked pretty, it was more of a cuteness as appose to any form of appeal to him. It was the same when he looked upon his mother, she was pretty, but in her mother kind of way. He couldn't explain it. He _could _explain the way he felt about the pierced teen's lingering eyes as she came closer to him.

He didn't like the way he looked at her.

Tsukune blinked in surprise as said girl looked at him, and gave a happy cheer. Completely taking his mind off of his defensive thoughts towards the troublesome teen. He could have sworn he saw him licking his lips as the emerald-eyed girl passed by.

"It's you!" she cheered as she shuffled over to his desk and bowed. A few boys behind her leaned over ever so slightly to get a better view of her compromising position. He didn't know why, but all those shifting eyes were starting to irritate him. "I'm sorry for almost running into you yesterday." She drawled out shyly as she stood back up, and held out a hand.

"I'm Akashiya Moka, please forgive me." The now named Moka introduced herself with a nervous smile. Making a round of whispers start to snake around the classroom.

Tsukune gave a warm smile and nod as he took hold of her hand with his own. Feeling her soft, flawless skin in his palm, "Aono Tsukune. Think nothing of it." Moka visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. She looked around and noticed the empty desks. Tsukune knew what she was going to ask next, and gave a 'have a seat' gesture with his right hand. The rosario around his wrist kept hidden in his sleeve as he did so.

The homeroom teacher got the classes attention soon after, and began her welcoming speech.

"Welcome first years to Youkai Academy! My name is Nekonome Shizuka, and I'll be your homeroom teacher during your time here at Youkai. This class in specific is geared towards giving youkai the necessary skills to blend in human society without exposing themselves, and the rest of the youkai world with them." During her whole speech, Tsukune couldn't help but notice a weird feeling in his stomach start to build. He started to feel a sense of dread as the homeroom teacher went on with her speech.

He took notice that the cat ears on her head would twitch every so often, and a tail that he had passed off as an accessory to her blue skirt was swaying like any other cat-tail would. He also noticed the slightly pronounced canines in her mouth, and started to work things out in his head.

He was in a school that he had never heard of before. He had to go through a weird tunnel on a school bus with a creepy bus-driver who he _knew _had glowing red eyes. The forest around the school and dorms was all dead and had an aura to it that just gave him the chills, and there was an ocean of red past the sheer cliffs out at the edge of the forest behind both the dorms. He took note of the scenery, of the teacher, and of several students in the class room.

The more he paid attention, and looked closely, actually _looking_ at all the little accessories. The animal ears here, and the _tail_ there. The strange scents and eye colors…the more he started to realize that the _accessories _were moving. Lifelike moving….they _weren't _accessories.

'_No way…' _he thought to himself. He had read A LOT of stories on myths and creatures of legend. Naturally, he was either too shy or felt too weird to socialize with the few friends that he made, he had an abundant amount of time to read. He had always thought it was just stories.

But the way the teacher was talking about the class. Blending in with humans? Her appearance, the student's appearances. Hell, the school in general. The whole thing spelled supernatural from the start!

"Why do we have to learn to hide from _humans_? We can just kill them all and be done with it." Came a gruff voice of someone who probably smokes a lot of cigarettes. A look to the middle of the front row of the class showed that it was the boy with piercings and a 'fuck the world' attitude that had spoken up.

The Neko teacher turned to him with an innocent smile, "Why Mr. Komiya Saizou, that's because of their technology and weapons of mass destruction. Even without them, they'd beat us in sheer numbers. There's about seven billion of them, and less than two hundred million of us worldwide. We'd destroy each other, and the side that's left standing would be left with a broken world."

Tsukune felt his spine lock up and his face begin to sweat.

He was in the presence of Youkai. Real monsters. He was going to a school _for _monsters. He was just a human, in a school full of…however many other monster legends turned out to be true.

As calmly as he could, he raised his hand to see what would happen if…let's say…_he _went to Youkai Academy. Even though he already was. In the middle of a first year classroom as a matter of fact. The feline teacher noticed his hand and nodded to him, "Yes Mr.-" she left her sentence hanging, asking him for his name.

"A-aono Tsukune." He cleared his throat to get the shakiness out of it. He reverted back to his usual nonchalant public face and tried again, "The humans populate the earth so densely…" he started off, and reached up to scratch the back of his head before continuing, "What were to happen if one of them happens to find the school? I mean, they're everywhere…"

He played it off as best he could, referring to humans and making himself appear…well, not human. He was already there. He had no idea how far he had traveled because he blacked out as soon as he entered the tunnel, and the next bus didn't arrive until Friday.

It was Monday morning.

In the same innocent manor, she simply smiled and held up a finger in a 'as a matter of fact' sort of way as her tail flicked back and forth, "Well Mr. Aono, this school is protected by a barrier that seals it and the area around from the rest of Japan. If a human _did _actually manage to get in, most youkai would pick up on his or her scent and they would be killed immediately."

Tsukune's hand stopped scratching around the same time he felt his heart speed up. His chest began to pound away as he nodded with the best smile he could muster while he put his arm down, and folded his hands on his desk.

'_...Shit.'_ he cursed to himself, _'Shit. Shit. Shit…Now what do I do?'_. As far as he knew, nobody knew he was human yet…at least he hoped not. He looked around to see most, if not everybody ignoring him as the Neko teacher went on with her lecture. He was looking around for a few minutes until his eyes laid on Moka, and earned a casual wave as she smiled at him. Probably still happy that he wasn't mad at her for nearly hitting him with her bike.

Now that he knew where he was, and _who _populated it. He was more so thankful that she had spared his life…

He looked back to Mizore, seeing that she was looking out the window just as he was minutes earlier. She seemed to be looking for something as she gazed out into the gloomy overcast of the woods surrounding the school.

She noticed him looking back at her with what she mistook as interest at the moment. Which wasn't completely wrong…he was wondering what kind of monster she was. She was so beautiful…he couldn't imagine her as anything other than human. She turned to face him, and gave him a small smile and a shy wave of her nearly sleeve covered hand.

He found himself smiling back in return, and gave her a mock salute. _'Where did that come from?'_ he asked himself.

He stared down at his hands, unsure of what to do. He took one more glance around the room, and saw how the rest of the claws save for a few that had taken out their notebooks and scribbled down notes on whatever the homeroom teacher was saying. He was much to panicked to hear her voice, let alone what she was saying. All he could hear was the beat of his heart in his ears.

'_They all look so…normal.'_

He couldn't fathom it. It had taken him going into the heart of the lion's den before realizing he was at a school for what he had only ever read about, or heard in stories. He looked around, seeing the excited faces of various students. Another that was still doing her make-up, and a boy in the front corner of the room asleep. _'They look so…' _he opened up to a page somewhere in the start of his notebook, and looked at the drawing of his middle school classroom.

It was a classroom much like the one he was in now. A white board at the front of the class followed by a desk and a teacher with a marker in hand and rambling about the day's lesson. The various students in the rows depicted looked exactly like the one's next to him in behavior. There was even a student he had seen sleeping, and drew him knocked out in his chair.

'…_normal.' _He finished his thought as he turned to a fresh page and began the first sketch of the year.

He had started the habit when he was little, probably back in the monastery if he really thought about it. He drew a picture of every classroom setting he entered in school. Starting from the small study room that the Duke's wife had taught him to draw in, then the orphanage, and all the way through to…well, now.

He got to work on his drawing. The concentration he had to put into it helping to dull the panic and nerves that had his heart thundering. Within minutes that seemed like hours, he was calm and pretty much oblivious to the class, aside from the one he was making come to life in his notebook.

He started with the Neko-sensei. Capturing her innocent and rather girly nature and her happy smile when she had answered his question. He made sure to get the motion of her tail right too, and give her ears a sort of rigid movement to them. One was pointed to the side, while the other was forward, mimicking their independent and sporadic movement.

The next thing he took on was the board behind her. The word 'introduction' spelled out in large kanji and a few pictures of various places in the world pinned to the top of the board.

The desks and students themselves were the easy part. Most of his classmates were either taking notes, half asleep, or knocked out on their desks. He got to where he sat, and blinked. He looked behind him and noticed that Mizore was still looking out the window with a curious gaze, her searching look somewhat diminished and replaced with a child's wonder of taking in everything she could see…much like himself.

He always drew his classroom settings from a 'back of the room' perspective, and in each one he was always looking out the window. The only one actually, everyone else was always looking ahead and paying mostly attention to the teacher. This was the first time he had ever drawn someone other than himself looking out the window. That it was a girl he had barely met the day before, a cute one at that, made it an interesting experience for him.

He drew her to the best of his ability, making sure to capture her almost doll-like appearance. He dare say she was breath taking even in his drawing, but he knew no artwork could ever do her caliber of beauty any justice. The best any drawing or painting would ever do for her was complement her. At least in his opinion.

Half the class and minute objects in the room later with a few shade layers, he found his head jerking up at the sound of the bell, signaling the end of the class.

He looked down and saw that he had drawn nearly everything there was to scribble down in his notebook. It was a solid piece, pretty good for the nearly hour-long he had to complete it. He thought it could be better, but was satisfied all the same.

He was about to close up shop and put away his things, when a quiet, almost inaudible voice sounded in his ear.

"Wow…That's pretty good."

He looked back to see Mizore standing beside him, peering over his shoulder to get a good look at his class-long project. He didn't know it, but she had used her power over ice to make a trail of ice along the windows to see what he had been doing. To any other girl, what she did would be considered a journeyman-stalker maneuver. But for a snow maiden like Mizore, that was just her attempt to get to know Tsukune.

Her people were predators in nature, and used a similar tactic of stalking as a way of social interaction. A sort of defense mechanism to both save on time, and heartache if they were investigating a love interest. If a snow maiden didn't like a potential friend or mate after observing them enough to get a feel for them, they would simply move on to the next candidate without the person/youkai under observation ever knowing.

Now Tsukune wasn't in the 'love interest' category for Mizore…but he was on his way. Unknown to him, she had actually been watching him since after they parted ways from orientation. Now that wasn't a long time, but it was an incredibly _short _time for a snow maiden to take even a _friendly _interest in someone. They were a secluded people, and didn't have much in the way of friends aside from other snow women.

She found him to be…odd. Not in a weird way, but in a unique mysterious sort of way.

She had a natural disposition to sensing other creatures 'warmth', or their life force depending on how you look at it. She could differentiate youkai from others if she concentrated hard enough, and familiarized herself with their specific 'warmth', but there was one kind she could _never _mistake even amongst a school of youkai.

_Human_ _warmth_.

"Ah, thank you Shirayuki-san. I uh, I like to draw." He replied back with a slight blush of embarrassment at being caught…drawing his classroom…and all the people in it…including her. He didn't think it was _too _out of the norm to draw his classroom, but he was worried about what the purple-haired girl may think.

Mizore simply nodded as she took in the finer details of his sketch, while still feeling for his warmth.

She was certain he was human now.

While that fascinated her, she knew that bringing that up in a classroom of all places was a _very _bad idea. She had no problem with humans, her people's homeland was near a human community after all and she had some experience with them. She had even grown to care for a boy at one point in time. But…that was for a later thought.

The deep-blue eyed girl wasn't one to care for school rules, she simply abided by them because there was no reason to go against them. She was always an odd one. Saving the knowledge of Tsukune's _species _for later, Mizore took to appreciating the small work of art that he had drawn. Being something of an artist herself.

One of the first things she noticed was that the focal point was leaning towards the corner that she and Tsukune were sitting at. Naturally enough, she figured that since he was the artist, he would include himself in a drawing such as this. She _did_ blush a little when she looked at the drawing of herself. She noticing with a sharp eye that he had captured an impressive amount of detail when it came to himself, but more notably…her. Had he had more time, she was sure that he could make her miniature version of herself hop right off the page.

It was touching really, while most people might've been put off by such sudden attention, Mizore felt…honored. One of the customs of her people was to sculpt the image of their lover out of ice. As a symbol of the everlasting memory and devotion to them. She knew the boy knew nothing about her, or of her people for that matter…but that didn't stop her from feeling a slight rush of warmth in her cheeks from his gesture of making artwork of her.

"I can see…you're very good." The snow maiden could tell how nervous the kind boy in front of her was, she could see it in his face. The snow girl could understand his jumbled nerves after learning that he was a human. She would feel the exact same way if she managed to wind up in an all human school.

Tsukune blinked before giving a warm smile. Not many people took the time to both inspect, and complement his drawings. While he didn't do it for the attention, he certainly didn't mind the praise. Especially from someone who was actually _in _his drawing, "Oh," he gave a small chuckle, "Thank you."

The snow maiden nodded, and headed for the door after parting with a shy wave. She had a lot of thinking to do. Most importantly, what to do with the interesting human who happened to arrive at a school for youkai.

Tsukune blinked again at the girl's sudden departure, but gave a small wave anyway as she glided out the classroom and went about her way. He didn't really know what was up with her, but enjoyed her company all the same. He was just happy that she liked his drawing…it would have been weird if she _didn't_.

Though, he wouldn't mind spending a little more time with the mysterious purple-haired beauty. As abrupt and as awkward as their interactions may be, he actually enjoyed them. A lot, if he dare say so himself. He wasn't much of a talker, as far as actively socializing, but he did enjoy spending time with friends when invited to hang out at lunch and the like. He was getting better, but he knew he had to step out of his comfort zone if he wanted to make friends…and possibly more than that.

He admitted it, if only to himself. He had taken quite the liking to the quiet girl. She was interesting, and seemed to have a lot more to her than what was at face level. The fact that she was most definitely a youkai was somewhat of a second thought. She had seemed so normal…but…knew she wasn't. Oh yes, Tsukune found his comfort zone to be about as big as a pebble in the setting that he was in. But he would have to make it work until the bus arrived in a few days.

He glanced up before putting his things away, and noticed that Moka had just left…followed by the student that had a very poor opinion on the matter of _humans _shortly after.

'_Shit…what did I get myself into?'_

* * *

><p>The next few classes were a frightening blur as he looked around every corner and flashed a look over his shoulder as unsuspiciously as he could while keeping himself as far in the corner of every classroom as <em>humanly <em>possible.

He chuckled humorlessly at that, finding a brand new meaning to anything pertaining to the word _human_. If he wasn't walking around a bunch of disguised monsters, he would swear he was going crazy. The whole thing was crazy!

During passing period he had seen a few creatures that made him want to go find a locker and hide in it, at least until they went away since he was pretty much stuck there until the buses arrived four days from now.

It was lunch time…and he had no idea if he was going to stay off the menu or not.

He kept replaying what his Neko homeroom teacher had told him that morning. _'My scent…'_, he had noticed a couple academy students give him confused looks when he passed by next to them, but most just ignored him. He got to thinking that only a few youkai could effectively sniff him out and get him killed.

And as he watched all the students walking to and fro forming small clicks and groups amongst themselves, he found himself questioning again if it was really all real. They all seemed so normal. Sure, he _knew _what they were…partly. He _knew _that if they found him out, that he'd be killed. But…he couldn't find it in himself to feel completely shocked by it all.

Or perhaps he really was in shock.

He had sat through the next few classes without uttering a single word, and just took to drawing everything he saw. He had seen so far everything from tails sticking out every so often, to a girl with fish-like scales on her neck, and a guy with a large snake tongue that flicked out constantly.

His skin had been on fire all morning, and even now his nerves were so racked up that he had no appetite whatsoever, and felt chills when he drank water. He could feel the faintest amount of sweat on his forehead, and he kept fidgeting like his body was about to take off on its own.

But the weirdest part of it all, wasn't that he was at a school for monsters…it was how little his mind was racing. And what more, his rosarios were…well, acting odd. The trinkets he'd had for as long as he could remember were _behaving_. He noticed it halfway through his drawing in homeroom, but hadn't actually investigated it…they were moving.

Every time he got close to certain youkai, they'd shift. At first it was like they were toppling around like if he were walking, but he had unbuttoned one of his cuffs only to find it moving in a counter clockwise in a circle, like a pendulum.

They didn't do it with _every _youkai that passed by, only a select few. Each one had been different. The first he noticed was a guy with a buzzed haircut and a scar running across his face. He felt caution around him. The next was a girl who looked to be your average highschooler, but when a vending machine had eaten her money and left her without the item that she paid for, she let out an angry "Humph!" and spat out a green glob of saliva that ate trough the panel of the door, and she simply took what was kept from her.

_Temper_, was all he had to say about her…

He noticed that every time his rosarios would move, there was always some reason behind it. He had felt the natural human sense of 'danger' when the scarred teen had walked by. He saw the temper of the girl that had a stroke of bad luck with one of the school's many vending machines. And he had noticed them moving in his homeroom class. _'The _leave no prisoners _guy…' _ he thought to himself.

Tsukune pulled down the sleeve of his right shirt just enough to see a gleam of silver, _'Could it be that my rosarios sense…_danger_?'. _The speck of red light was still in both of the black gems on his cross bracelets. Though there wasn't one in his necklace…strange he thought.

He figured he might have thrashed around in his sleep while on the bus and somehow…cracked it in the center or something and caused the light that passed through the gems to bend. At this point, he was willing to accept any reasonable explanation for strange occurrences.

"You really do like drawing don't you?"

Tsukune visibly flinched and snapped his head in the direction of an all too familiar voice that he was strangely getting accustomed to appearing out of nowhere.

His head snapped to the right and found himself nearly face to face with Mizore once again. The snow girl was stunned still for a moment and felt her face growing hot at how close their faces were to each other. With a roll of her sucker, she leaned back and sat down next to him on the small three foot wall that lined the outside portion of the cafeteria.

Tsukune swallowed a bit, not knowing how to do deal with the situation because he had never had so many strange interactions with a girl before. Well, they seemed strange because he only ever talked to girls when he was with his only friends Raku, Nagi and Kenshin and they're attempts at getting girlfriends in middle school was mediocre at best. He believed Raku claimed to have held a girl's hand at one point, but no proof was ever given. Apparently the girl he had started dating moved soon after…

"Y-yeah. I guess you can say that. It helps me deal with…whatever is going on at the time." He replied back carefully.

Mizore looked at him with a calm mask which was also starting to be a usual thing, at first he had thought she was annoyed by him, but her actions spoke otherwise. Her eyes held a curious gleam to them however, "Oh. Well, what are you dealing with right now?" she asked casually, noticing that he had his notebook and pencil in hand.

She got a quick glimpse of the sketching's in his notebook, he had drawn various students with different monster attributes. The only things with finer detail were the unusual (at least to him) extremities that each student held. Everything else was just drawn well enough to know that each student was either a boy or a girl with a few minute differences between them.

The human boy felt his stomach jolt as his skin seemed to burn even more than it already was, "W-well.. um… just being at a new school I guess. L-like I told you before, I'm not very good with people." He could help but stomach the dread he felt as he hoped that the conversation didn't stray to where he thought it was going.

The snow girl gave him a nod, being something of a 'shy away' type herself. Aside from him, she had spoken to no one, "I can understand that…I'm not good with people either." She peered up to him, with just a hint of a rosey tone in her cheeks, "But you seem to be good with _me_."

The people of her village were brought up in a different way than most could imagine. In comparison to Tsukune, humans (to her understanding) were raised to adapt to the modern world as quickly as possible. Their main goal being to pursue a high paying job and a nice home before settling down and having a family.

Mizore's people were an eclipse to that kind of upbringing. While human children were read stories based on morals and values, her people were told stories of love and compassion. Aside from different variations of stories that told of what mother's would do to protect their children and the love that they had for them, the tale of the _winter wife _was a story that was passed down to each snow maiden at the age of twelve.

It was from that age that mother's would pass on to their daughter's the ways of the snow maiden. And share their experience of their time with their lover, who had given them the blessing of their child. Mizore's mother had told her all about her younger years and how she was unable to find a love of her own, and instead came to care for her arranged husband over time before he had died.

As of now, Mizore was on a mission. To do what her mother could not, and find love before her biological clock would seal her fate if she could not. Her mother wanted nothing more than to see her daughter end up with someone she had chosen for herself, and had grown to love by her own accord. Tsukune was an interesting individual, while shy and fearful…she couldn't help but feel compelled to learn more about him.

She knew he was human just by the way his _warmth _felt, and based on how he had been acting since the morning…he knew where he was. And the likes of which the student's around him were. Naturally, that meant that he knew that _she _was a youkai as well. The fact that he was showing _caution_, instead of _fear_ at the sight of her, was very touching. _'He's not like _him_…'_

Tsukune blinked as he felt a different kind of heat dust his cheeks and face. _'She's right…I _have_ been getting along well with her. But, what does that mean? I mean, she's a monster...'_ He cleared his throat a little, faking a cough so that he didn't arouse any suspicion for his delay. He glanced up to her, locking eyes with her deep blue orbs that he _knew _were unnatural, but couldn't find it within himself to reject the sight of them. Fear them even. In fact, he dare say he wasn't even trying to.

'_Isn't she?'_ he finished his thought, and glanced down to his hands that he found were steadier than he thought they should be. "Yeah, I-I guess you're right about that." he brought up a hand to scratch the back of his head, feeling a new wave of nervousness rush through him as he felt himself getting hotter under his shirt, "I guess it's because you're different, I-in a good way!" he finished a little louder than he probably should have.

Mizore blinked, startled at what the boy had said to her. She just looked at him, before giving a small smile as she took in his charming, and yet bashful response, "Thank you. You're different too…I can _feel_ it."

His nervous tick of scratching the back of his head stopped in mid scratch at those woods. His eyes shooting wide open while his heart began to race. _'She _knows._'_

Mizore saw his reaction, and made a quick one of her own. She held a finger to her mouth, signaling him not to panic and hoping that he wouldn't as she went to finish what she had to say, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. I actually really like you." She blushed at her own words, and felt relieved when she saw that Tsukune relaxed a bit. Going from cautious, back to nervous.

He sent a quick glance around, and scooted just a tad bit closer to her, the action making her cheeks gain a spark of warmth at the action of getting closer to her, "H-how long have you known?"

"Since orientation." Mizore felt no reason to keep how long she had known of Tsukune being a human a secret from him, "It's actually why I talked to you yesterday. I've been watching you ever since."

Tsukune blinked in surprise at the blunt answer the purple-haired girl had given him. "You've been watching me?"

The snow girl gave a nod.

"Do you do that with everybody?" he asked carefully. Not wanting to offend the…whatever she was.

"No, just with you. I haven't talked with anyone else besides you, so I've had no reason to watch anybody aside from you." She answered with a straight face, rolling her ever present lollipop as the brown-haired boy took in the fact that she hadn't so much as said hi to anyone but him, and had been basically stalking him since they met.

Tsukune regained control of his slightly slacked jaw, "Um…why?" he wasn't quite sure how to take that. He wasn't an expert at social interaction, but he was fairly certain that it wasn't really normal to stalk people you just met.

Mizore shrugged her shoulders a bit as she rolled her sucker to the other side of her mouth, "I think you're interesting. I'm very shy when it comes to people, but you seemed to be a very nice person. Snow maidens have a tendency to watch the people they've taken an interest in, which is why I've been stalking you."

The hazel-eyed boy was amazed at how forward the pale girl was being, but, he had heard something that registered above everything else that she had said. He visibly gulped, "You're a what?"

This was the true test, Mizore let out a sigh as she closed her eyes and hoped that she wouldn't scare away her new friend, "I'm a Yuki-Onna, a snow girl. I have power over ice and snow." She held up a hand with her palm facing up, and made a few flakes appear and swirl around the center with practices ease. "See."

Tsukune felt his heart thunder in his chest at what he had just witnessed. A seeming _normal _girl with a few odd quirks just manipulated snow out of thin air! He looked up into her eyes and glanced back down to the dancing snowflakes just above her hand. His jaw slack from the awe of the demonstration.

Mizore let her will diminish over the super chilled air and the small batch of snow fell through her fingers. She glanced in his direction, and for once wasn't able to guess what he was feeling, the look he had on his face could either be one of amazement, or one of horror.

"Is…That ok? You're not afraid of me are you?" she asked with a quiet voice that nearly became mute at the end. Her head stooped low and she already had her escape route planned out in case he started screaming like the _other _boy did.

Tsukune watched as the usual calm and stoic girl took on a look of sadness. The expression on her pale face made her look make him feel like her world had just ended. Such a beautiful face like hers shouldn't ever be marked with sadness, at least in his mind. He wasn't completely sure of himself, but then again his mind was still numb from being on edge all morning.

He placed a comforting hand on top of her left that she had supporting her on the small wall that they were sitting on. Her skin was cool to the touch, almost to the point of making his hand flinch back, but it warmed up almost immediately underneath his hold.

He saw the pleading look adorning the snow girl's porcelain face, and couldn't stand it, "No. No I'm not. A little nervous, sure." He gave a shaky chuckle, but locked eyes with the snow fairy as he gave her hand a light squeeze, "But I'm not afraid of you." A few quiet seconds passed between the two, the snow girl feeling all sorts of different critters in her stomach at how Tsukune placed his hand on top of hers, while the human boy was trying to keep from hurting her feelings.

Both simultaneously looked down at their touching hands and retracted them, albeit Mizore was a little slower in doing so. Tsukune picked up his notebook and stared flipping through pages. Mizore couldn't fight the blush on her cheeks as she felt the part of her hand that was touching Tsukune's, it was still warm.

The human cleared his throat as he tried to calm himself down, "But uh, I can't say the same about the school." He flipped through the several pages he had filled up with his observations, each one fascinating but frightening him at the same time. It was an odd thing though, while he was still afraid of all the things he had seen so far…he hadn't _drawn _any of the students in a scary way. They were simply students with extra or different parts to them.

The snow maiden folded her hands on her lap as she glanced over to his notebook again, "It doesn't look so bad when you draw it." She commented. Noticing how natural everything looked on his paper.

Tsukune glanced up for a moment, thinking about what he had seen so far. He looked back at her, seeing her calm mask once again in place…and gave a warm smile, "You're right." He answered her as he started on another drawing. "It doesn't."

The snow maiden scooted just a little bit closer to him as she watched him work. After a few minutes she could see that he was drawing the gloomy looking clouds that she had pointed out in class that morning.

The two sat just sat there for the remainder of lunch, enjoying the other's company in their own little world.

The rest of the day had gone by as quick as the morning had, while with much less of the active panic and the feeling of having a bullseye painted on his back for Tsukune, it was fast all the same. He had seen Mizore on his way back to the dorms to rest up, having spent a lot of energy being on edge for most of the day and worked up a bit of a fatigue.

He still didn't know what to think about being stuck at a school for monsters, but he wasn't as afraid as he probably should be. He supposed he had Mizore to thank for that. The snow girl had calmed him with just the right choice of words and a few observations of his drawing.

He ate a light supper and went in to have a soothing hot shower before going to bed. And as he lay beneath his covers, he lifted his right hand above his face, gazing at the silver jeweled and etched cross dangling from his wrist. The dirt-sized speck of red light in the center of the onyx stone sticking out but blending in at the same time.

In minutes, he was fast asleep…and back in the stone tomb from before.

* * *

><p>Alriiight...so how was the chapter? I'll admit, im 87% sure that i'm really shaky on capturing the <em>feel <em>of the Rosario Vampire world. I had a hard time getting into the mode for this chapter because im so used to my other story, but i plan to get better at that.

On a different note, i hope I'm pacing out Mizore's interest in Tsukune, and vice versa. She's such a wonderful character, and i love her, i really want to get her part in my story spot on. i feel like she's really starved of spotlight in most of the fics on here...

I also hope that I'm getting my image of Tsukune and the kind of character he is across to you guys, my beloved readers. I like canon Tsukune, don't get me wrong, but i feel he was made too naive, despite being the age that he was going into the story. But, that's just my opinion.

Well, let me know what you guys think, please don't post hate reviews because that does nothing but 1. piss me off and 2. throw off my writing game. Any constructive criticism will be GREATLY appreciated on this fic because im doing something very different than what im doing with U.C. Rising Tides, plus i had been thinking about that fic for like two years before i ever got around to writing anything .

So please review, or pm me your opinions, either one gets me thinking and the gears churning to make this story as great as it can be. I do have a set line up for Tsukune's harem, but i will take suggestions. I don't really see myself adding anymore to the five that i have in mind, but you never know.

Thank you for reading my friends :)


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